Astrological machine



April 24, 1934. E.

ASTROLOGICAL MACHINE CRABB Filed Jan. 16 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 *1 Earl L. Urabb mourns v April 24, 1934. L, CRABB ASTROLOGICAL MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 16, 1935 Patented Apr. 24, 1934 ED STATES ASTROLOGICAL MACHINE Earl L. Crabb, Seattle, Wash, assignor to The Astrolograph Corporation, Chicago, Ill.

Application January 16, 1933, Serial No. 651,990

7 Claims.

My invention relates to astrological machines and certain objects of the invention are to provide a machine which, when set to the period covering a persons birth date and corresponding with one of the twelve signs of the zodiac and a coin is deposited into the machine, a sealed ,plying electric current to the motor and to the magnets together with means whereby the magnets will pick up and deliver the sealed envelope, novel means for causing the individual sign of the zodiac to appear at the proper time, novel means for releasing the deposited coin, and other novel features of construction and arrangement hereinafter set forth.

With the above objects in view, the invention consists of the novel construction, adaptation, combination and arrangements hereinafterdescribed and claimed. These objects are accomplished by devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings; wherein: Figure 1 is a View in front elevation of the machine; Fig. 2 is view in vertical section taken substantially on a broken line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and also showing diagrammatically the motor and battery circuits; Fig. 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic view showing the commutator and magnet arrangement together with the battery circuit and connections; Fig. 4 is a detail view in elevation showing the rotary switch for the motor and battery circuits together with associated parts for operating the magnets; Fig. 5 is a view in central vertical section taken on a broken line 5--5 of Fig. 4: Fig. 6 is a view in elevation of the shutter for the aperture wherein the signs of the zodiac are displayed; and Fig. 7 is a plan view/"showing onelof the sealed envelopes containing the written prophesy of a persons life in accordance with the relative position of the planets at the time of the persons birth.

Referring now in detail to the .drawings throughout which like reference numerals indicate like parts, the numeralfi designates a main cabinet having a slanting casing 6 secured to its upper front portion. A large disc 7 is rotatably mounted within saidcasingiand is revolved by a rotor 8 engaging its periphery and manually turned by an exterior knob 9 connected therewith. The large disc is radially divided into twelve equal sectors 10 each containing one of the twelve signs of the zodiac and arranged in a clockwise direction beginning with the sign Aries and ending with Pisces. The outer edge portion of the large disc is also divided into twelve equal parts each designated by the numeral 11 and containing the proper abbreviated wording to denote the periods of time between certain dates or the approximate one-twelfth part of a year ach of which is associated respectively with one particular division or sign of the zodiac in astrological prophesy as is well understood. Each of the twelve signs of the zodiac is radially offset about seventy-five degrees in a clockwise direction from the marginal sectors containing the particular abbreviated date period which governs that particular sign of the zodiac. In other words when the knob 9 is turned to the right and the large disc '7 is thereby revolved to the left to cause the abbreviated wording Mar. 21 to Apr. 20 to show through a small opening 12 in the central front top portion of the casing 6 the first sign of the zodiac ruled by this period, namely Aries, will show through an aperture 13 in the front portion of the casing as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. However, said aperture is normally closed by a shutter 14 which is pivotally mounted on the axle 15 of the large disc 7 and provided with a counterweight 16 so that the signs of the zodiac are not at first visible through'the aperture when the large disc is set. The purpose and operation of the shutter will be more fully hereinafter set forth.

The large disc 7 is fixed to its axle 15 and said axle is joumaled through the rear of the casing 6 as shown in Fig. 2. A commutator disc 17 carrying a metallic contact arm 18 is also fixed to said axle and revolves with the large disc. Twelve contact fingers 19 are fixed to the rear of the casing in equal spaced apar't relation each being disposed directly under or opposite each sign. of the zodiac of the large disc and all of said fingers are disposed in engageable relation with the outer end of the contact arm 18. A stator arm 20 has one of its ends fixed to the back of the casing 6 and its other end in continual engagement with the hub of the contact arm. Said stator arm is connected by a wire 21 to one terminal of a battery 22. Each of the contact fingers 19 is connected by a wire 23 to one of twelve magnets 24 and a. return wire 25 from each of said magnets is connected to the other circuit wire 26 from the other terminal of the battery 22 through a novel rotary switch arrangement which will now be described.

From said other terminal of the battery 22 a wire 27 leads to one end of an arcuate wire 28 mounted on a disc 29 that is fixedly positioned within the casing 5, and a return wire 30 leads to a connection with the circuit wire 26 from the corresponding end of another'arcuate wire 31 that is mounted on the disc 29 in parallel relation with the arcuate wire 28 lhe wire 26 being connected to all the Wires 25, it will be apparent that the battery circuit is completed through said magnets and the commutator arrangement herein before described. An arm 32 is fixed to a shaft 33 that is centrally journaled through the stationary disc 29 and a brush 34 carried by the outer end of said arm is arranged in engageable relation with the two arcuate wires 28 and 31. Said shaft and arm-are rotated by a motor 35 through the medium of reduction gearing 36 interposed between said shaft and the motor shaft for the purpose of reducing the speed of the arm.

Diametrically opposite to and corresponding with the arcuate wires 28 and 31 another pair of arcuate wires 37 and 38 is fixed in parallel relation to the disc 29 and said wires are also engaged by the brush 34 that is carried by the arm 32. One terminal of the arcuate wire 38 is connected by a wire 39 to one side 40 of the mains from the outside source of current, and the wire 40 is shunted at 41 to a connection with one sector 42 of a coin releasing mechanism as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. From the other, or pivotally mounted sector of the coin releasing mechanism, as designated by the numeral 43, a wire 44 leads to one terminal of the motor 35 and from said wire a wire 45 is shunted to a connection with a terminal of the arcuate wire 37. The other side 46 of the mains from the outside source of current is connected directly to the other terminal of the motor 35. A spring 47 normally retains the sector 43 in the retracted or indrawn position so that a coin 48, when dropped into a slot 49, will lodge between the two coin sectors thus closing the circuit from the main 40 to the motor 35 thereby starting the motor. The arm 32 will be rotated to the right, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2,

I and its brush 34, bridging the two arcuate wires 28 and 31, will close the battery circuit thus carrying current through the wire 21, stator arm 20, contact arm 18, one of the fingers 19, thence through one of the wires 23 to one of the magnets 24 and back over one of the wires 25 to the wire 26 and then over the wire 27 to the battery 22.

Referring particularly to Fig. 3, the magnets 24 are each provided with an arm 50 and said arms are arranged in groups of three and are of such lengths that when they are fixed to a pivot bar 51 the magnets will each contact with a small metal plate 52 that is connected to an envelope 53, preferably by means of a piece of paper 54 pasted thereover as shown in Fig. 7. These envelopes are placed in piles on a slanting shelf 55 that rests on a slanting platform 56 fixed within the cabinet 5. All of the envelopes in each individual pile contains the written horoscope of persons born under a certain zodiacal period and sign. For instance the pile of envelopes on the lower left hand corner of the shelf 55 contains the written horoscope of persons born on any date between March 21 and April 20 or under Aries the first sign of the zodiac. As shown in Fig. 3, the contact arm 18 engages the particular finget 19 directly under the sign Aries on the large disc 7, thus closing the battery circuit through the particular magnet 24 magnetizing and causing same to attract or adhere to the metal plate that is connected to the top of the envelope of the pile containing the horoscopes of persons born under the sign of Aries. It will be understood that the individual piles of envelopes are always placed in the same relative position on the shelf 55 and are retained in this position by standards or pegs 57 fixed to said shelf.

A connecting rod 58 has its ends pivotally connected to the arm 32 and to a crank arm 59 which extends fixedly through the pivot bar 51 as most clearly shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Said arms and rod are so designed and positioned that the pivot bar 51 will be revolved sufficiently to raise the magnet arms 50, all of which are fixedto said pivot bar, to a substantially vertical position as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4. It being remembered that the magnet 24 which engages the plate 52 that is attached to the top envelope 53 of the pile containing the horoscope of persons born under Aries, said envelope alone will be .lifted up by said magnet until the arm 32 reaches the vertical position at which point the brush 34 carried by said arm will pass oif of the arcuate wires 28 and 31 thereby breaking the battery circuit and demagnetizing the particular magnet 24 and whereby the envelope 53 will drop down upon the slanting platform 56 and out on a chute 60 to the depositor of the coin. It being understood that the motor circuit is still unbroken, the arm 32 will continue to rotate around whereby its brush will engage the arcuate wires 37 and 38 thus causing a double connection of the motor circuit with the motor 35. Said arm is provided with a projecting pin 61 which engages a lever arm 62 pivoted at 63 and causes its right angle end portion 64 t0 pivotally move the coin sector 43 away from the coin slot 49 by its engagement with a pin 65 car- 5 ried by said sector. The coin 48 will therefore drop down the coin slot into a coin box 66, and while this will break one circuit to the motor, the brush 34 will continue in engagement with the arcuate wires 37 and 38 thus retaining the motor 20 in circuit until the arm 32 reaches substantially the vertically depending position between the pair of arcuate motor wires and the pair of arcuate battery wires at which space the brush is out of contact and the motor 35 will therefore stop.

As hereinbefore stated, the shutter 14, by its own weight, normally closes the aperture 13 and conceals the sign of the zodiac corresponding with the date period appearing at the opening 12. Mainly for the purpose of effect, means is devised for automatically moving said shutter and exposing the sign of the zodiac momentarily after a coin has been deposited in the machine. Said means comprises a rod 67 pivotally connected at 68 to the counter-weight side of the shutter and pivotally connected at its lower end to a crank arm 69 fixed through a pivot rod '70 that is pivotally mounted within the casing in parallel with the pivot bar 51. Another crank arm '71 is fixed through said pivot rod and normally rests on a right angle crank arm '72 fixed through the pivot bar 51 when the machine is in the inoperative position. When the motor 35 rotates the arm 32, as hereinbefore described, and causes the pivot bar 51 to turn the supporting crank arm 72 will 145 be moved downwardly from the arm '71 whereby the weight of the shutter 14 will cause said shutter to drop down thus exposing the sign of the zodiac at the aperture 13 and causing the rod 6'7 to slightly turn the pivot rod 70. When the machine 50 completes its cycle of movement as hereinbefore set forth, the pivot bar 51 will have again lifted the crank arm '72 upward against the arm 71 and turned the pivot rod '70 whereby the crank arm 69 will draw the connecting rod 6'7 downward and thus again lift the shutter 14 back to itstnormally closed position and conceal the sign of the zodiac when the large disc 7 is again set.

For the sake of clearness, the mode of operation of the machine will now be briefly repeated and, this time, assuming that the depositor of the coin was born on the first of March. The knob 9 is turned until the abbreviated period Feb., 19 to Mar. 20 appears in the opening 12 at the top and at the same time the twelfth sign of the zodiac, namely Pisces, coincides with the aperture 13 but is invisible on account of the intervening shutter 14. The setting of the large disc 7 also moves the commutator disc 17 carrying the contact arm 18 into contact with the contact finger 19 which lays directly behind the zodiac sign Pisces. The coin is now inserted in the slot 49 which coin closes the motor circuit and starts the motor. The battery circuit is closed by the brush 34 carried by the revolving arm 32. The magnet 24 that is in contact with the metal plate 52 connected to the top envelope 53 of the pile all of which contain the written horoscope of persons born under the sign Pisces is magnetized. The shutter 14 is lowered, exposing the zodiacal sign Pisces, and at the same time the magnets are lifted by the pivot bar 51 whereby the one magnetized magnet lifts the envelope containing the particular written horoscope, and upon the arms 50 reaching the vertical position said magnet is demagnetized and drops the envelope into the chute 60. The motor is shut off upon the arm 32- reaching its originally vertical depending position and the machine is again in readiness to receive another coin. It will now be apparent that the machine is'entirely automatic and the only necessary manual movements are to set the large disc and to deposit a coin in the coin slot.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an astrological machine comprising a plurality of magnets and lifting arms therefor, a motor and circuit, a battery and circuit, a commutator arranged at each setting to close the battery circuit to one of the magnets, a switch arm revolved by the motor and carrying a brush, and connecting means between the switch arm and the magnet arms whereby said magnet arms are raised and lowered, the combination of a stationary disc supporting the revoluble switch arm, a pair of arcuate wires connected to the battery circuit wires and fixed to said disc, another pair of arcuate wires conected to the motor circuit wires and fixed to said disc, the brush on the switch arm adapted in its rotary movement to first engage the first named pair of arcuate wires whereby the battery circuit is closed to one of the magnets, and said brush arranged to secondly engage the second named pair of arcuate wires whereby the motor circuit is closed, and a coin switch for closing and opening the motor circuit.

2. In an astrological machine comprising a plurality of magnets and pivotally mounted lifting arms therefor, a motor and circuit, a battery and circuit, commutator means arranged at each setting thereof to close the battery circuit to one of the magnets, a switch arm revolved by the motor and carrying a brush, and connecting means between the switch arm and the magnet arms whereby said magnet arms are raised and lowered, the combination of a stationary disc sup? porting the revoluble switch arm, a pair pf arcuate wires connected to the battery circuit wires and fixed to said disc, another pair of arcuate wires connected to the motor circuit and fixed to said disc, the brush on the switch arm arranged to engage the first named pair of arcuate wires closing the battery circuit and magnetizing one of the magnets and to pass out of engagement with said arcuate wires demagnetizing the one magnet when the magnets are in the raised position, said brush adapted to pass into engagement with the second named pair of arcuate wires closing the motor circuit, and a coin switch for closing and opening the motor circuit.

3. A rotary switch comprising a stationary disc,

a pair of arcuate wires fixed to the disc and connected with a source of electric energy, another pair of arcuate wires fixed to said disc in diametrically opposite relation to the first named pair and connected to another source of electric energy, an arm revolubly supported by the disc and having a brush arranged to alternately engage the two pair of arcuate wires, and the ends of said two pairs of arcuate wires having spaces therebetween whereby the brush passes out of engagement with the arcuate wires in the rotary movement of the arm.

4. In an astrological machine comprising a plurality of magnets and pivotally mounted lifting arms therefor, a battery and circuit for magnetizing the magnets, a rotary switch having a revoluble switch arm arranged to close a portion of the battery circuit, and connecting means between the magnet arms and therotary switch arm whereby the magnets are raised and lowered, the combination of commutator means arranged to complete the circuit between the battery and one of the magnets at each setting thereof, and a switch for causing initial operation of the rotary switch arm.

5. An astrological mach ne comprising a casing having a chute, a large disc revolubly mounted within the casing, the face of said disc divided into twelve sectors each containing one of the signs of the zodiac, the margin of the disc divided into twelve parts each containing a period of the year corresponding to the respective signs of the zodiac, a commutator disc revoluble with the large disc and carrying a contact arm, a fixed contact finger for each sign of the zodiac engageable by the contact arm, a pivot bar mounted within the casing, twelve magnets each having an arm fixed to the pivot bar, twelve piles of envelopes each having thereon the respective sign of the zodiac, a metal plate attached to each envelope,

a shelf, means for retaining each pile of envelopes I on the shelf in such position that the metal plate on the envelopes is engaged by one of the magnets, a wire connecting each contact finger for each sign of the zodiac respectively with the particular magnet engaging the metal plate that is on the particular envelope having that same zodiacal sign thereon, a battery, a return wire connecting each magnet with a wire leading to one terminal of the battery, anotherwire connecting the other terminal of said battery with the commutator contact arm, a motor-and circuit, a switch arm revolved by the motor and carrying a brush, connecting means between the switch arm and the pivot bar to which the magnet arms are secured whereby all the magnets are raised and low ered upon rotary movement of said switch arm, i

a stationary disc supporting the switch arm, a pair of arcuate parallel wires fiiiii to said disc and connected to the wire leading to one terminal of the battery from the return magnet wires, another pair of arcuate wires fixed to the disc diametrically opposite the first named pair of arcuate wires and respectively connected to the motor circuit, the brush on the revolving switch arm arranged to engage the first named arcuate wires, and to close the battery circuit to the particular magnet that is brought into circuit by the setting of the commutator contact arm in contact with one of the contact fingers whereby said par ticular magnet is magnetized and adheres to the metal plate connected to the top envelope of the pilef. engaged by that particular magnet, and whereby said particular envelope is raised'by the magnet upon rotary movement of the switch arm and the pivot bar until the brush passes off of the first named arcuate wires and the magnet is demagnetized and drops the envelope through the chute, the brush on the revolving switch arm arranged to pass into engagement with the second named arcuate wires and close the motor circuit whereby the switch arm, through its con-' nection with the pivot bar, causes the magnet arms to lower the magnets into their normal engagement with the metal plates connected to the envelopes, and a coin switch adapted to make and break the motor circuit.

6. In an astrological machine comprising a casing with a chute, a disc mounted Within the casing and divided into twelve sectors each containing one of the signs of the zodiac, the margin of the disc divided into twelve parts each containing a period of the year corresponding with the respective signs of the zodiac, said casing having an aperture arranged to coincide with one sign of the zodiac on the disc when the corelated period of the year on the disc is set at a predetermined point on the casing, twelve piles of envelopes within the casing, and means for lifting one of said envelopes at a time and dropping same through the chute, said means consisting of a lever mounted magnetior each pile of envelopes, and, selective means for magnetizing one of said magnets at atime, the combination of means for concealing and exposing the sign of the zodiac appearing at the apert the large dis-c set, said means comprising a pivotaily monnteei shutter and counterweight arranged normally to close the aperture, a motor actuated pivot bar, the lever of each magnet connected to the pivot bar and connecting means between the shutter and pivot bar whereby the shutter is moved away from the aperture upon rotary movement of the pivot bar and is returned by its own weight to the nor mally closed position upon release or the connecting means by the pivot bar, said release being effected by a disengagement of said connect ing means upon rotary movement of the pivot bar.

7. An astrological machine comprising a casing having a chute, a rotary disc Within the casing divided into the twelve signs of the zodiac and also into the twelve periods of the year,corre-= sponding respectively with said twelve signs of the zodiac, said casing having an aperture wherein one of the signs of the zodiac appears when the large disc is set to the corelated period of the year, a motor and circuit, a battery and circuit, contact means for each sign of the zodiac coacting with the rotary disc and the battery circuit, a pivot bar, twelve piles of envelopes each respectively containing the horoscope of persons and each envelope having a metal plate fixed thereto, twelve magnets fixed to the pivot bar and arranged to respectively engage the metal plates of the top envelope of each pile, a rotary switch operated by the motor, switch means for closing the motor circuit, whereby the motor is caused to operate the rotary switch means whereby said switch closes the battery circuit and magnetizes one of the magnets corresponding with the particular sign and period of the zodiac at which the large disc is set, and connecting means between the rotary switch and pivot bar whereby the magnets are raised and the magnetized magnet lifts its particular envelope and drops same through the chute when said rotary switch opens the battery circuit, a shutter normally closing the aperture and concealing the sign of the zodiac therein, and connecting means between the pivot bar and shutter whereby the shutter is moved away from the aperture upon rotary movement of the pivot bar.

EARL L. CRABB. 

